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 The
Equality Unit \ Corporate Communications
Corporate Communications
With all of
the challenges facing the Council in terms of service delivery,
mainstreaming equality of opportunity and good relations and managing
diversity, it is very important that the Council communicates with
all its citizens in an accessible, transparent, open manner. Through
having a better understanding of what we do, how well we do it and
why we do it, our residents, users and opinion formers can play
a more informed role in influencing our policies and services, thereby
ensuring that they do receive high quality and effective local services
for local people. The Council is committed to ensuring that it communicates
with everyone in an open and accessible manner and to assist in
this process it has established a Corporate Press Office to handle
all enquiries regarding the Council and issue all press statements,
releases and photocalls. In the period May 2008 - July 2009 the
value of the total coverage received by Council was £1.28
million and this does not include bought space through advertising.
In the past year, the Corporate Press Office organised 207 photocalls,
processed 288 press releases and processed & replied to 1,140
press queries.
The Press Office
undertakes and facilitates a range of public relations campaigns
to inform our citizens about different issues. It also organises
all Civic Receptions and annual premier corporate events such as
Kilbroney, The Mayor’s Charity Ball, and Corporate Award Evenings.
The contacts
for the Corporate Press Office are
Mrs
Regina Mackin
028 3031 3095
regina.mackin@newryandmourne.gov.uk
Mrs
Hilary Halliday
028 3031 3072
hilary.halliday@newryandmourne.gov.uk
Communciations Strategy
The Council
has a Corporate Communications Strategy which details its plan of
action in terms of internal and external communications.
It produces
its Ratepayers News sheet “Citizens
News” every year and in June 2007 it produced the second
edition of its Concise Dictionary (Irish
Version An Foclóir Cruinn 2007).
Both of these documents are distributed to every household in the
District and are available in different formats upon request.
Household
Panel
Newry and Mourne
District Council as part of its commitment to engage directly with
its Ratepayers in order to seek their views on Council services
and facilities has established a Household Panel.
The members
of the Panel which was selected by an independent research company
are ratepayers from across the District.
The Panel meets
every three months to discuss Council services, facilities and performance
and to suggest how we can continually improve the services we deliver
to our citizens. It provides a direct opportunity for citizens to
have a say in how our services are designed and delivered and the
Council welcomes the useful feedback received at these meetings.
For
further information on the Panel contact
Mrs Regina Mackin
028 3031 3095
regina.mackin@newryandmourne.gov.uk
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